Introduction
With the rise of internet consumption and the increase in digital device usage, hacking has become a norm, with many individuals and organizations rendered victims of hacking. By definition, hacking refers to identifying a weakness in a computer system or network and exploiting these weaknesses to gain unauthorized access to organizational or personal data. Interestingly, hacking is not always malicious as it is perceived, but it has negative connotations for some reason, thanks to its association with cybercrime (Maimon & Louderback, 2019). However, hacking cannot occur if these two aspects are absent, a motive within the hacker and, secondly, a system weakness or vulnerability on the side of the victims. While hacking has been a common trend in the recent past, understanding the motive of the attacker and building robust systems on the side of the potential victim is an effective way hacking can be done away with.
Discussion
Reflecting on a series of literature that has delved into the topic of hacking, two underlying themes arise the motivation of hackers to hack and, secondly, the hacked victims’ characteristics.
Motivations for hacking
Although there exist a series of laws and regulations that outlaws unethical hacking and access to personal and organizational information, the practice continues to remain widespread, thus begging the question of what actually motivates the hackers to hack. According to Young et al. (2007), evaluating the minds of the hackers, most of them participate in hacking as a way to gain prestige and swim in the wave of glamorization (Young et al., 2007). Since the inception of hacking, society has treated hackers as unique and intelligent people who require special recognition despite the practice being unethical in some situations. With some gifted hackers going ahead to enjoy interviews in the media or their stories being captured in films, such has motivated hackers to continue undertaking the practice despite the sanctions associated with unethical hacking. Young et al. (2007) further add that hackers tend to be motivated to undertake their hacking escapades due to the uncertainty of the law (Young et al., 2007). Since they can easily get away with the atrocities they commit, many hackers are motivated to join this unethical practice explaining the rise in hacking activities in the last two decades.
Sukhai (2004), on the other hand, mentions how the motivation for hacking stems from the desire to find a sense of self-satisfaction or notoriety. Hackers tend to be motivated by a certain sense of achievement if they manage to break the system of a well-secured organization or person. For instance, the hacking of the Twitter account of the Ministry of Defense of the United Kingdom in 2022 is a perfect example of how an individual seeks to get a moment of self-recognition. Sukhai (2004) adds that hackers tend to be competitive and challenge each other to gain recognition from the individuals they have exploited. In the wake of increased social media usage, this has been made possible as the platforms are effective places for hackers to boast of their activities and gain the attention they want. However, as mentioned by Sukhai (2004), the biggest motivation for hacking is the need for financial gain. Hackers tend to hack individual passwords where they get the avenue to access a customer’s bank or credit card details and go ahead to withdraw or use the card to purchase some items that they want (Sukhai, 2004). Alternatively, the hackers may choose to sell this personal and sensitive data to other hackers or on the dark web for personal profits. In some instances, they may contact the hacked person for ransom to release the details back to the legitimate owner. All these are ways the hackers use to gain money, regardless of how unethical it is. Still, on financial motivation, the hackers tend to extend their activities to a large scale level when they hack organizations’ systems with the desire to reap big in terms of ransom or kill the company’s competitive advantage. Most of the organization hacking is sometimes facilitated by outside individuals, such as competitors to a given establishment.
Maimon & Louderback (2019) mention that the motivation for hacking at times arises from the need for revenge. Individuals who may feel that an individual or organization has wronged them may go ahead to initiate a cyberattack and compromise their systems just as a way to feel good for the offense meted on them (Maimon & Louderback, 2019). Lastly, hacking may be initiated by an individual or organization because of good faith. Some hacking is usually targeted towards the testing of the system vulnerabilities, and the hackers may offer suggestions for system improvements in the event that there are some flaws that were noted. In fact, this was the original intention of hacking before it fell into the wrong hands to be misused by the attackers. Therefore, based on the different author’s perspectives, the above described stand out as the main causes as to why hackers find themselves highly motivated to undertake hacking despite the negative repercussion linked with hacking if the law is to go by.
Enablers of hacking among the victims
But what renders us to be the victims of hacking and end up at the mercy of hackers? Researchers have looked into a series of issues that render individuals and organizations vulnerable to hacking hence explaining why we are victims of hacking even in an age where we are expected to be secure from these activities. According to Steward (2007), one way that renders us victims of hacking is vulnerable passwords. Most individuals have relied on passwords to login into most digital platforms, be it online accounts or social media accounts. Unfortunately, these passwords, however long or secure we deem them to be, Steward (2007) asserts that they, are easily compromised if there is the absence of multifactor authentication. The vulnerability risk is further compounded by the fact that most users use the same password in almost every place on the internet. In that perspective, once a breach occurs in one part of the internet, the hacker tends to easily compromise other digital platforms of the user, hence explaining why hacking incidences have remained high via the stealing of passwords. Apart from password stealing, victims are susceptible to hacking through the use of Trojan horses. A Trojan horse is a type of program that requires the targeted host to just run it on their device, be it a computer or phone, and it corrupts the whole device where exposes vital information to the hacker. As victims, we remain vulnerable to these attacks since the Trojan horse is usually an unsuspecting program such as installing any form of an app, but the effects may be far-reaching hence the need to be aware of such practices by internet users.
Steward (2007) further highlights how default settings in our devices can be the source of us being victims of hacking. When buying any electronic device, it is usually configured to some given default settings. The hackers tend to be aware of this and thus try hacking any new device once it is activated in the hope that the owner may still need to change the default settings and thus gain some vital information regarding the user (Steward, 2007). IFor this reason,it is advised for any person who buys a new device to ensure that the default setting is immediately changed so create some form of a firewall for any individual who attempts to hack the system. At the industrial scale, organizations tend to be rendered vulnerable to hacking due to the hackers conducting intense homework and research on the targeted organization. Hackers who have targeted a given organization may go ahead to gather weak points starting with the chief executives, employees’ addresses, operating systems used, email addresses and confidential documents that end up being posted online. Organizations thus need to be at the forefront in ensuring that they secure every part of their systems since hackers, prior to their attack, usually undertake extensive research and attack the most vulnerable part of the organization to success. Lastly, organizations and individuals become victims of hacking due to the confidence games they play. With the onset of robust systems today, the existence of firewalls, IDSes, IPSes, and anti-malware scanners that have made hacking an uphill task, organizations and individuals may become confident that they are immune to any form of attack (Steward, 2007). However, today many hackers understand these provisions that are in place and have invested much in social engineering, thus attacking when they are least expected. Organizations and individuals need to be aware of these looming dangers always instead of becoming confident in a situation that may render them victims in the worst way possible since they will not be knowledgeable on where the attack is coming from.
Conclusion
Hacking as a practice is fueled by a series of reasons such as the need for revenge, the desire to feel a sense of satisfaction, the desire to feel like a genius as propagated by society and the media as well financial motivations, which is the biggest motivator. If hacking is to be prevented, then there is a need to ensure that these interests posed by the hackers are initially addressed before they embark on their hacking journey. However, it is difficult to appease the interests of every individual, and this is where preventing hacking from the victims’ perspective comes in. The different means by which one falls victim to hacking which include; weak passwords, interacting with a Trojan horse, exploiting default settings in devices and being overconfident, are all issues that need to be addressed. Individuals and organizations need to be alert that they are potential targets to hackers and always be alert to prevent any hacking from occurring. Hacking can be effectively countered if every individual takes a personal motive towards ensuring that their devices cannot be easily intruded on by an external agent. Adhering to such not only makes the individuals safe but the organizations as well since hackers may, at times, hack an organization with robust systems through the use of an employee who mishandles company documents online or has a weak device that can be easily intruded on.
References
Maimon, D., & Louderback, E. R. (2019). Cyber-dependent crimes: An interdisciplinary review. Annual Review of Criminology, 2, 191-216. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-criminol-032317-092057
Steward, M (2007). Ten Ways Hackers Breach Security http://book.itep.ru/depository/security/breaches/WP_Steward_Hackers.pdf
Sukhai, N. B. (2004, October). Hacking and cybercrime. In Proceedings of the 1st annual conference on Information security curriculum development (pp. 128-132). https://doi.org/10.1145/1059524.1059553
Young, R., Zhang, L., & Prybutok, V. R. (2007). Hacking into the minds of hackers. Information systems management, 24(4), 281-287. https://doi.org/10.1080/10580530701585823
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